Has any respected writer ever criticized the works of William Shakespeare.?

Question

Is it possible to criticize the bard or does he "bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus".

Is everything he did that good?

Ok Syberian

I wasn't looking for a pedants answer i was just enquiring if anybody could name a well known writer who did criticize (didn't like) shakespeare.

Answer 1

there is a severe contemporary criticism of a new playwright who is probably shakespeare (one cannot be entirely sure) in sir philip sydney's 'an apology for poetry'. sydney was apalled by how shakespeare's plays strained credulity by being too interesting. (proper plays should have only one scene, should tell only one story, and should completer their action within at most twenty-four hours. shakespeare's plays break all these 'rules').

shakespeare's slightly younger drinking friend ben jonson was generally in favour of the stratford boy's work, but thought a lot of his stuff was tedious, difficult to understand, or just plain sloppy (you can read most of ben's opinions in his 'underwoods').

nahum tate thought that 'king lear' was so bad that he rewrote it with the happy ending it should have had in the first place. for well over a hundred years when people went to see 'king lear' they watched nahum tate's version, not shakespeare's.

samuel johnson criticised all of the plays meticulously. he conceded that most of them were at least watchable, but had suggestions how nearly all of them could be improved.

george bernard shaw once said that shakespeare's stagecraft was so dreadful it made him want to dig the man up and throw stones at his corpse.

several shakespeare plays are almost never performed, including all's well that ends well, the comedy of errors, pericles, and (incomprehensibly) cymbeline.

shakespeare has always been controversial, as he was at the time.

Answer 2

Shakespeare was famously attacked by a contemporary writer, Robert Greene, in 1592. In his 'Groatworth of Wit' he describes the bard as an 'upstart crow', and criticised him for lacking originality and for stealing his ideas from other sources.

Another contemporary, Ben Jonson, criticised Shakespeare for his populist and innovative style of drama. Jonson favoured a much more structured, classicist approach to drama, whilst Shakespeare's plays often break with the 'rules' first established by Aristotle and the ancient Greek playwrights.

Skipping forward, we come to 1818 when Thomas Bowdler published his 'Family Shakespeare'. Although the cult of Shakespeare was firmly established by this time, Bowlder's book changed the plot lines of many of Shakespeare's must enduring plays to make them more palatable for a family audience. Famously, Ophelia accidentally drowns in the new version rather than committing suicide during an episode of madness.

Answer 3

Someone said that 'Shakepeare is great, despite all the people who say he's great'. And that's true!

Anyone who says that Shakespeare is not a great writer is simply wrong, but constructive criticism even of a negative kind is perfectly acceptable and very common.

It is an interesting question as to why he has such a central position in English literature. To what degree is it to chance circumstances, and to what degree is simply to quality? because if it's simply quality, surely someone would have come along at some point who was simply 'better' than him, as happens in all other forms of human endeavor from art to sports?

Answer 4

The best and most readable critic of Shakespeare is Samuel Johnson, 18th century British essayist. Johnson believed that Shakespeare was often sloppy, self-indulgent, and confusing, although he admitted Shakespeare's genius. Another critic, less rejecting than Johnson, was A.C. Bradley, whose criticism is still in print. Go to Amazon.com for both these writers.

Answer 5

it may surprise you to find out William Shakespearee Was A
PLAYWRIGHT this means he was not writing books but plays
and poems to be given in public performance.

Writer's who work as theater Critics make their entire living
criticizing Shakespear plays

the word Criticize means simply to To judge the merits and faults of; analyze and evaluate

This means anyone who analyzed and evaluated Shakespear
and found they loved his work have criticized him.

So my answer is (Drum-roll please)
Every Writer who has ever written about Shakespeare has Criticized him.
....added hours later....
then that is the question you should have asked. Sadly I can name no one. I think I shall take being called a pendant as a backwards compliment so thank you.

Answer 6

Many many writers criticise Shakespeare - the man is a genius but he did not perfect the art! I think any decent writer thinks they can improve upon him; obviously this is hardly ever the case, but if perfection had already been achieved, they wouldn't bother.

My thoughts - noone ever talks about the really boring, plot scenes in his plays. Only ever the genius stuff - which is a good thing, but like I said, let's not pretend he's perfect!

Answer 7

Being critical of someone's writing doesn't mean that one doesn't care for it, but that there are problems with the writing. And so yes, practically every college English professor has at some point criticized ol' Will.

Answer 8

definite quite a few, the terrific ordinary having been 17 october 1989 whilst there became a considerable earthquake in California in the time of a "international sequence" baseball game. Had it no longer occured my brother woulda been on Nightline with Ted Koppel afterwards.

Answer 9

A conspiracy theory about the Bard is well known. Even though I do not believe in the "Bible Code"there is something strange about Shakespear in the Bible,

Send me an email and I will forward it on, have your Bible ready though it's scary !!!

Answer 10

well many people say that shakespeare didn't really write many of his plays. there are many theories on who actually did. none of it is provable or unprovable of course. but that is the only criticism i've heard.
go to the wiki below and look under 'speculation'.